Upcoming events:

In the wake of nationwide protests, Big Tech companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook have publicly stated their "support of the Black community." On the next Techtonic, Chris Gilliard discusses his recent Fast Company piece that explains how Big Tech companies profit from exploiting and harming the very communities they claim to support.

August 19, 2019: Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann on their new book "Super Thinking" (and Duck Duck Go)

This week: Co-authors (and spouses) Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann talk about their new "book of mental models" called "Super Thinking." Gabriel is also the founder of the search engine Duck Duck Go.

• People Are Starting to Realize How Voice Assistants Actually Work (Sidney Fussell in the Atlantic, Aug 15): "And Facebook makes five. Which is to say, this isn’t so much a series of “scandals” surrounding human review as the results of a user base becoming minimally aware of how voice-assistant technology actually works. Our listening devices did what they were designed to do. We just didn’t realize who was listening."

• From Aral Balkan (Aug 14): "Don’t call it a techlash, there’s no backlash against technology, there’s a backlash against a single toxic strain of exploitative, colonial, surveillance-based technology developed and exported by Silicon Valley. There’s a Valleylash. There’s a yearning for techmancipation."

And I have to give DuckDuckGo a HUGE round of applause for allowing me, the user, to ROTATE A MAP! I can turn it to better fit the map on my computer screen. Google doesn't do that. They won't even let you do a simple "Rotate 90 degrees" like Every. Single. Image. Viewer. does.

But what kind of “reading” is he referring to? I read tons of decent stuff online, but at a local discount store the security guard saw me carrying a William Blake book and recommended Milton William Cooper’s conspiracy classic: “Behold a Pale Horse.”